Last Swim Meet

Our son swims on a local team each summer. Since he doesn't want to swim year-round, he's never one of the faster ones, but he participates and has fun, so it's all good. He leaves for Scout camp tomorrow so today was his last swim meet of the season. It was a nail biter!  We left still not knowing, for sure, whether we'd won. If so, our team would remain undefeated. We were ahead by only 8 points at the end of breaststroke . . . yikes!

This has been a great season.  Our team was in the basement of the league for many years. But because it wasn't 'in demand' like the top teams, we slowly but surely built up a team that is even in numbers and abilities in every age and gender category.  The top team was so competitive that slower swimmers felt unwelcome, so they didn't come back the next year. Now that formerly 'top' team (most of their swimmers compete year round at very high levels) is very uneven.  And next week our team will swim against that top team -- the other undefeated team -- the team everyone loves to hate.

The way points work in a meet is that you have three categories of swimmers: A, B, and C.  You get points for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each category.  If your team has scared off all your "B" and "C" swimmers, then when you are up against a team that has plenty of B's and C's to field, they get 1, 2, and 3 in those categories. So you can have the faster swimmers in the state on your team, but if you don't also have slower swimmers, you can lose the meet.

The sad thing is that the top team has such a reputation for mean spirited competition, i.e. pushing out slower swimmers, and recruiting fast swimmers from outside the league to swim with them rather than welcoming anyone new -- that they've taught their swimmers some really unpleasant behaviors. This is a neighborhood level league.  For them, it isn't about the kids having fun and honing an important skill any longer, it's about whether their kid is the one that will get the swimming scholarship.  It feeds right into the "my kids the most special" syndrome that our family tries desperately not to get caught up in.  We're not always successful, I might add. But if our team becomes one of those 'centers of arrogance', we won't stick around.  Why?

Because at the other end of the spectrum is my son, who swims like someone has invited him to a party, and he's supposed to just enjoy his turn in the water.  I guess I'd rather have that attitude than the arrogance of the other. But EIGHT POINTS? Could you just show a LITTLE bit of urgency, son?

Ha ha...Great season!

Late breaking news -- we received word that our team lost the meet: 557 to 542.  It was a great meet though - totally positive attitudes from everyone there! And it does take a little pressure off next week. 

Gift Card Dilemma

What do you get the person who either has everything HE wants, or won't specify anything HE would like to have? The 2010 answer is "a gift card." But if HE won't specify a merchant, it is difficult to decide.

To solve this dilemma, someone gave HIM a VISA gift card for Christmas. The gift card went where all gift cards go -- to a pile that sometimes gets sorted through, but mostly gets ignored. When I moved something in our guest room yesterday I dicovered it.  With an expiration date of 5/10.  Yep. Expired in May.

I went on-line to see if there was a process by which I could extend its life.  In doing so, I discovered that the $50 gift card was now worth only $41.00!  For each month HE has held onto it, it has been charged a service fee of $1.50!

Now my SON has the same problem with gift cards. When we did the cleaning of the Aegean Stables recently, I found at least 7 of them, mostly for book companies (I know, can you believe that?).  We verified the balance on all of them, and are in the process of using them. NONE of them charge a service fee each month. Some of them are from Christmas 2008!

So, my advice is DO NOT GIVE VISA GIFT CARDS. And if you're getting something for MY husband, do not get a gift card at all.

I will give the company kudos that they're going to replace the card sans replacement fee...but no adding back the $1.50 per month.  Sheesh.

The Library Mystery, Part II

Wherefore Art Thou, Emajean?

A Friends of the Library Mystery

Part II

The researcher groaned as she sat at the table to examine the book and photo more fully. She had worked many times on old books in poor condition. In the beginning, finding a loose photo had been a personal challenge. Her pulse would pick up, her interest piqued. But so many "special" books down the line, and she had become jaded.

She slipped on a pair of cotton gloves and picked the photo up. The young girl was about nine or ten years old. Dressed in simple white, she was surrounded by flowers and holding a big bouquet. A special occasion of some sort, guessed the researcher. The girl had on long socks encased in Mary-Jane type shoes - very much a school girl look. Yet, she wore a flapper-style headband which contributed to the winsome nature of the photo and dated it to the Roaring Twenties. The researcher couldn't tell whether the headband held a feather or other flapper-type decoration. Flipping on a strong light, she began to move past the obvious details to study the more subtle cues.

In the back was a structure of some sort, probably a house with the outline of the photo. The girl's eyes were quite shadowed, perhaps by illness or perhaps by the light angle of the photo. There was a long piece of wood on the ground behind her, but the researcher could not discern any reason for it.

The girl's arms and legs showed her to be thin, but not sickly thin. The researcher decided the light angle accounted for the shadowed eyes. She chuckled as she honed in on the girl's expression. She had seen that expression on her own children's eyes when they were being forced to pose for a photo. At least today's digital cameras were very forgiving of movement! This photo had been taken when any movement became a blur on the print.

Yawning, the researcher looked up at the clock. "Oh my!" she thought. "I've spent over an hour and discovered nothing!" Nonetheless, she switched off the bright life and resolved to return to the photo soon. This was for fun, for a volunteering position. Her paid job demanded more of her time and energy than she often could give, so the little girl would have to wait.

The researcher put the photo in a protecting sleeve, and set it down. "Just for a minute," she told herself, and picked up the book the photo had come from. It fell open to a page in the index, where she found another clue. A note, typed on tissue-thin paper, yellowed with age, said:

Dear "Maw":

You are cordially invited to a 

Hard Times party on

June 15th at

GARM'S BARN.

Prize for the funniest costume.

Come as soon as you can be relieved of 

your blessed duties and stay as long as they

 can spare you.

YUMMY SHRIMP N SAUCE

We have one child who loves shrimp and one who doesn't like to be in the room when it's on the table. The latter child is still away at Governor's School, so we're chowing down! I asked my husband to pick up some shrimp for me to stir fry with my famous garlic sauce. However, when I took the bag out yesterday to prepare, I saw that he had purchased previously cooked shrimp.  SCREECH OF BRAKES!  CHANGE OF PLANS.

No problem. I simply thawed them and rinsed them and made this yummy chili dipping sauce. Despite it's name and ingredients, it wasn't too spicy for kids. I love that it used normal ingredients - nothing fancy to buy. Try it!

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup white vinegar

1 Tbsp garlic, chopped

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

Simmer 1/2 cup sugar, water, vinegar, garlic and salt in a small saucepan over medium heat.

When sugar is dissolved, reduce heat to medium low and simmer until the consistency of maple syrup, about 10 minutes.

Remove from heat, stir in pepper flakes to taste. (I did about 1/8 tsp)

Remind family members that double dipping is NOT allowed.  Serve.

Because this is so sugary, it's also very sticky, so be sure to wipe everything up completely or the ants will come marching in for breakfast the next morning...

Teaching Entitlement

I just ran our Friends of the Library table at our local festival on Saturday and Sunday. The weather started off miserable when we were setting up on Saturday morning (pouring rain!) but by the time the crowds showed at noon, it was perfect all day.

At our table we had lots of library info, lots of info re: how to get involved volunteering with our Friends group, and some candy. We also had a number of Friends LOGO items to sell. So many of the other booths had "free" stuff that people showed up at our table expecting that the LOGO items were free too!  The items had prices, there were signs for the prices, but people still tried to take off with them! For the occasional person who asked, "can I have a T-shirt?" we would tell them it was a fundraiser for the library and they'd say okay, and not purchase.

So, I was thinking about what this teaches kids. If every booth at a festival gives you free Made in China junk that will pile up under your bed until your house explodes, should you exercise any self-control at all and say "no thank you?" There was no cost to attend the festival. There was live music at three locations, and three headliner events, including an acrobatic circus. All free. Food was very inexpensive as were children's rides. Children AND adults were acting like it was Halloween! No wonder people expect the government to give them everything - we're teaching them if they just show up and breathe they are rewarded!

I had to laugh rather than cry. Next to our booth was the local delegate to our legislature. He gave us a whole bunch of pens with his name on them for us to use for people signing up to volunteer. By the time we closed on Sunday evening all but 5 had been swiped. During the day he and his folks were standing out in front of his booth offering "free" maps of the state. At one point when it was quiet I said, "you know, those maps aren't free."  He looked at me and said, "yes they are." I said, "No, I already paid for them with my taxes. Why don't you say, 'get some of your tax money back' when you offer them?"  He laughed, a bit uncertainly I thought.

Now how many of those people are going to go home and throw a lot of the stuff from the festival away in the first month of having it?  The landfills will groan even more. One of my volunteers said, "we should have something better to give away than candy!" I told her I don't want to contribute to the greed or the landfills. I don't think she got my point.

On the other hand, we got LOTS of kids to sign up for the summer reading program, and gave lots of newcomers to our town a Welcome brochure designed by yours truly that invites them to get involved with a meaningful venture - increasing literacy!  Woot!

A New Mystery

Some of you know that I am the blogger for our local library Friends group. I'm also the 'researcher' for odd things that pop up in the donation bin. We've got a doozy this time, so I'm turning it into an ongoing story. I thought you all might enjoy it too.

Wherefore Art Thou, Emajean?

A Friends of the Library Mystery

Part 1

She didn't mean to disappear. But it was never her intention in life to stand out from the crowd - to draw any attention to herself in any way either. So in disappearing, she became noticeable. Had she been around, this whole matter would never have ripened into a quest. But sometimes events spin beyond our control and we simply hang on for the ride.

Somewhere in between the Introduction and the Index of Persons Contained Therein, she had vanished.Well, her name was still there, but the page to which it referred had been ripped out -- severed from the book, along with any clues as to who she might have been or where she might be found.

The book passed through many hands over the years. No one ever examined it closely. No one mused upon the missing page trying to connect it with the woman they knew. One by one the people of that generation vanished, lost to time and war and life and death. Members of the family kept the volume, first for sentimental reminders of an earlier age. For subsequent generations it became an "heirloom."  Some advocated holding on to it for financial gain. But one day, even that value had faded in the face of how dirty and old it had become. When the time came to move to a smaller place, the old tome ended up in the "donation" pile.

Although the local library's donation standards would normally have precluded accepting this book, sharp eyes noticed that underneath the grime and water damage there was a gem of a mystery to be unraveled. Plucked from the pile destined for the County recycling program, the book moved to a new shelf in life. This shelf was marked "research later."

And after another while had gone by, the researcher finally opened the book and discovered a loose photo.

Finally!

Robert Byrd has left the building.  Finally!  Politicians who serve more of their adult lives ON the public payroll than off it should never have been allowed to stay that long. Supporters argue that they were reelected by the people of their districts and to have term limits would take away their supporters' voting rights.

I'm sure it has nothing to do with campaign and seniority rules that heavily favor incumbents in terms of money and recognition.  Oh, and who writes those rules?  Yep...them in power.

Ironically, when Byrd was elected the first time, and through the first twenty years or so of his time on the public dime, he would not have crossed the street to talk to a man the color of our current president, much less shake his hand. I guess the positive spin is that it means there is hope for all of us, if we live long enough, to reconsider the stupid things we do and say when we're very young and very ambitious.